Avoiding a ‘social recession’: A conversation with Vivek Murthy | McKinsey & Company
"Long before the pandemic hit, I was deeply concerned about loneliness. In the age of COVID-19, I’m worried that loneliness could deepen further, that we could see the physical distancing that we’re asked to observe translate into social distancing as we feel more and more disconnected from the people we need in our lives."
General James Mattis on leading in a crisis and thriving in the next normal | McKinsey & Company
"Good feedback loops and data displays are critical. You have to start with data. If you can only quantify 10 percent of the problem right now, then start there. As more data comes in, you replace assumptions with knowledge. Then you need to apply your judgment.One of the most important things is keeping someone at your side who will challenge you to balance the quantitative and non quantitative inputs to your assessments, who will watch for gaps in your assessments."
Why the economic value of a face mask is $56.14 | The Economist
After a brutal first six months of the year, governments across the world are hoping for an economic bounce-back. Rich-world gdp fell by about 10% in the first half of 2020. Yet much has changed since—including that more people are now wearing masks. Economists, obsessed with translating everything into gdp, wonder if more widespread face-covering could help the recovery.
Corporate governance in COVID-19: Cybersecurity and technology considerations | Journal of Accountancy
Cybersecurity oversight is a key fiduciary responsibility for a board of directors and was a significant concern for companies even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced so many organizations to suddenly shift to remote work. Data breaches and other cyber threats pose significant competitive, reputational, and litigation risks and require increasingly costly investments to prevent, detect, and respond to. Changes in the environment as a result of the pandemic have created new risks that need to be managed with board oversight.
Innovative thinking helps industry unmask a working COVID solution | The Age
“It’s an intriguing approach that illustrates the type of novel approaches to scalable community testing that might be used as a community opens up,’’ Doherty Institute co-deputy director Mike Catton told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Australia | Data
A very useful, locally produced web site that provides daily information on the pandemic nationally.
6 week lockdown elimination strategy possible? | Medical Journal of Australia
“We argued in the original preprint version of this article on 17 July that Melbourne and Victoria should not waste the opportunity that the (then) 6-week lockdown presented and go hard and early. By learning from the lessons on social and preventive measures to lower SARS-CoV-2 transmissibility (7,8,12,14), and specifically the lessons from NZ (3), Taiwan and the six Australian jurisdictions that have achieved elimination, Victoria could have increased its chances of also eliminating community transmission.”
“We argued in the original preprint version of this article on 17 July that Melbourne and Victoria should not waste the opportunity that the (then) 6-week lockdown presented and go hard and early.
By learning from the lessons on social and preventive measures to lower SARS-CoV-2 transmissibility (7,8,12,14), and specifically the lessons from NZ (3), Taiwan and the six Australian jurisdictions that have achieved elimination, Victoria could have increased its chances of also eliminating community transmission.”
Emerging from lockdown - modelling outputs and assumptions | University of Melbourne
“The University of Melbourne model suggests that if we ease restrictions when there is a fortnightly daily case average of 25, there is a 6 in 10 chance of having to lock down again before Christmas.”
University of Melbourne modelled several policy scenarios.
If we ease restrictions when the average number of cases over the previous fortnight is 25 (350 cases total) then it’s more likely than not that cases will get out of hand and restrictions will have to be reinstated to regain control and protect the health system.
Waiting until the average is 5 cases a fortnight – or 70 cases total - reduces the chance of increased restrictions before Christmas to just 3 in 100.
This obscure supply chain theory has conquered the world — but has it gone too far? | ABC
"This has been a really strong evolution going from the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s, to take fat out of the supply chain, to tighten down everything," says supply-chain management expert Rich Weissman. He says in the past 10 years companies have come to really rely on analytics to fine-tune supply chains to make sure that supply and demand absolutely line up. And that's where I think we've gone too far.”
Rethinking Supply Chain Risk in the “Never Normal” World | SDC
The heavy dependence on China across industry verticals is an obvious example of the sole-sourced nature of today’s supply chains.
The Garmin Hack Was a Warning | Wired
Green Swan 2 - Climate change and Covid-19: reflections on efficiency versus resilience | BIS
"It suggests that climate-related risks and pandemics such as Covid-19 have similarities. Both are massive global negative externalities and both are related to changes in our natural ecosystems. In addition to the extensive economic and financial damage they both produce, both directly affect human lives and thus could be classified as Green Swans. And, for both, there is a discrepancy between how scientists warn us about the quasi-certainty of their occurrence and how we fail to systematically consider their potentially huge costs and integrate them into risk frameworks and final prices."